Dear Editor: President Barack Obama defended the data sweep and said the American people should feel comfortable with its collection. On Friday, after seven months of increasingly uncomfortable revelations and growing public outcry, Mr. Obama gave a speech that was in large part an admission that he had been wrong.

Americans have really gotten paranoid about their security; they’re fearful of any future terrorist attacks and willing to do anything to avoid them. It’s provided a tremendous boost for “Big Brother.” It’s in his best interests that the nations invest billions in new surveillance technology and equipment, pass new laws and become more secretive, repressive and dictatorial.

Ted Rudow III,

Palo Alto

Settler attacks

Dear Editor: The Associated Press reported recently that the “annual rate of Israeli settler attacks (against Palestinians) has almost quadrupled in 8 years,” a frightening statement. Additionally, when and if the Israeli army arrives to calm things down, the settlers then attack the Palestinians again in a practice called “price tag.” Interestingly, sometimes the Palestinians even protect the settlers.

From all indicators, it seems that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not really want a peace settlement. Why should he, because then he couldn’t continue to build in the settlements in the West Bank? Yes, the Palestinians refuse to acknowledge Israel as the “Jewish State of Israel,” which is a bit of a puzzlement when there are Muslims with mosques and Christians with churches living there. Is this just one more wall being put in the way of having a peace agreement? What if Utah insisted on calling itself the “Mormon State of Utah”?

Iran? This is not ours to fight preemptively, period.

Mimi Kugushev,

Menlo Park

Hamas still relevant

Dear Editor: Bill Zaumen’s claim (Letters, Jan. 18) that Hamas is no longer relevant is, most unhappily, false. Whatever its financial troubles, Hamas still controls Gaza. Gaza is so politically separated from the West Bank that no matter what agreement the Palestinian Authority signs, Hamas will make sure it is not implemented in Gaza.

Mr. Zaumen also claims that Israel’s designation as the world’s Jewish state is irrelevant. Again, this is false. The Palestinians want a state to call their own. It would be a Palestinian state. Also, this state would be completely free of Jews, because Jews are not allowed to own land in Palestinian territories. Does it not also stand to reason that the Jews should have a Jewish state of their own, particularly since Israel has decided not to ethnically cleanse itself of Palestinians?

The reason Palestinians refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is that they are still clinging to the idea that all the Palestinian refugees, complete with the special U.N. definition of a Palestinian refugee, can “return” to Israel, creating a population imbalance that would rob Jews of Israel just as effectively as if Arab armies had marched in and conquered it. I do not understand why Lebanon’s delicate population balance is respected, but Israel’s is somehow wrong.